In a conventional installation an opening is left in the fence in which double-hung gates are mounted. The fence terminates at the opening with a post on each side of the opening. A gate is pivotally mounted on each of the terminal posts. The gates are similar in configuration and are usually mirror images of each other. Where they meet at the center of the opening they are provided with means to hold them in fixed position against opening.
This means includes a vertically reciprocating latch rod mounted in two vertically spaced tubular guide members attached to the central stile of one of the gates which we will call the first gate. The lower end of this latch rod is intended to fit in a hole or in a socket member mounted in the ground and to hold the gate against swinging movement. The upper end of this latch rod has a right-angled extension which serves as an operating handle for the latch rod. This extension can be an integral bend in the rod or a separate cross member welded to the end of the latch rod. The central stile of the other gate, which we will call the second gate, carries a fork latch member pivoted to the central stile and movable between a horizontally projecting position in which it embraces the central stile of the first gate and a vertically projecting position in which it is free of said first gate. This fork latch member can be secured in its horizontally projecting position by a padlock.
One objection to the above-described latching system is that the vertically reciprocating latch rod can be raised far enough to be disengaged from the lower of the tubular guide members. Indeed, there is nothing to prevent its being manipulated at its upper end around the padlock so that it can be raised past the upper tubular guide member and removed completely from its operating position in the gate. Eventually the latch rod is left lying on the ground where it can be run over by a car and bent out of shape and ultimately lost. Moreover, with the latch rod out of its ground-mounted socket it is possible for both gates to swing open even with the padlock in position.